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I wrote earlier this yr that Baidu’s Apollo Go is likely to be the first profitable robotaxi service in the world. The service continues to increase within the meantime, or in its march towards profitability. Now, information is that Apollo Go robotaxi testing will start in Hong Kong, close to the airport, later this yr.
Apollo Go is already working in additional than 10 Chinese language cities. One key to profitability is scaling up industrial use to be able to unfold out the prices of the system and R&D. The extra cities Baidu can increase into, the higher.
To begin off in Hong Kong, security drivers who’ve at the very least 10 years of driving expertise can be within the automobiles, and the automobiles can be working throughout off-peak driving hours. Since June 19, Apollo Go has been providing totally driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan, so one would anticipate the corporate to get to that stage shortly in Hong Kong.
Following Google (now Waymo), Baidu was one of many first corporations to leap into the self-driving automobile journey — manner again in 2013. It has been trudging alongside a bit like Waymo in attempting to grasp the method and produce down the prices.
“On May 15 this year, Baidu unveiled its sixth-generation robotaxi, costing 200,000 yuan ($27,600), a 60 percent drop from the previous model,” CnEVPost writes. That’s a surprising drop in prices, and is vital to reaching profitability. “These vehicles would join the robotaxi fleet on Apollo Go, which by the end of 2024 planned to deploy 1,000 sixth-generation robotaxis in Wuhan, Hubei province, Baidu said in May.”
Apollo Go is at the moment offering about 1 million robotaxi rides per quarter. It has carried out over 8 million throughout its whole life. Clearly, it’s starting to scale up at a fast tempo. I anticipate 2025 to be a giant yr for robotaxis, in all probability led by Baidu and its Apollo Go service, however Waymo is development shortly as nicely.
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